


Brawling Love

by disgustedqueen



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Feelings Realization, M/M, Red's point of view, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-08-28 11:38:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16722639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disgustedqueen/pseuds/disgustedqueen
Summary: Hatred is a strong word, but Red would gladly use it to describe every feeling he has for Blue Oak.☆DISCONTINUED☆





	1. A Challenge

A few weeks ago, Oak had given him an egg. He had never really cared for the things, he could never get them to hatch, not the way that Leaf could. She always told him to wrap the egg with towels and place it in his bag, but he had always been more worried about keeping potions and antidotes stocked than hatching eggs. 

 

But he had tried to care for this egg well. He had wrapped it in towels, and placed a heat lamp over it. Sometimes he'd place a hand on it, to see if he could feel any stirring, but he never could. Sometimes his pikachu would wrap himself around it and sleep there, but that didn't seem to help anything. 

 

Somewhere near the end of  two weeks, Red was convinced he had broke the egg and was ready to return it to the more capable hands of Oak, when the egg twitched and a long crack ran vertical about an inch long from the top. 

 

It takes it all of four hours to hatch, into a small, fluffy pichu, with a yellow coat so golden it puts his pikachu to shame. 

 

He bathes and brushes it, feeds it and tries to teach it a few tricks aside from growling and minor shocks. It doesn't even occur to him that Oak might want to see the hatched Pokemon - that was the reason he had given him the egg in the first place. 

 

Oak’s lab has been updated since he was ten. It's sleek and modern, without as many bulky machines and equipment. He still has a nidoran he keeps as his pet, that's old and tired and sleeps on the mountain of paperwork. There's paintings of legendary Pokemon, photographs of his favorites, certificates and diplomas from schools. Everything about it seems so starkly familiar and yet so different. 

 

The only piece of Oak’s lab that sticks out is three pictures hanging above his personal desk - a photo of daisy and her wife, along with their child, dated a year ago, another of oak, cradling blue who looks to be three, and Daisy, prim and proper in a stylish dress beside him. The last picture is the most recent, Blue in front of the Viridian Gym, holding the keys and smirking like an idiot. Red hates him. 

 

Oak is of course, at his desk, older than Red’s ever remembered him. He imagines most of the techs handle most of the grueling work, while he simply dates and signs important documents. Still, he shouldn't count Oak out, after all, this man created and continued to update the current pokedex, and signed off on the newly created fairy typing. 

 

Despite the fact that Red still hasn't managed to wrap his head around fairy typing, doesn't discount Oak’s living legend status, and he accepts the hug he receives from the elder man. 

“So, did you hatch the egg I gave you?” Oak asks, smiling as always. He leans against his desk though, as if hugging Red took everything from him.

 

Red nods, and scoops the ball of the fluff that's been napping on top of his head, presenting the tiny pichu to Oak.

 

“Splendid. That egg is from Alola, I'll have you know, so if you ever decide to evolve it into raichu, make sure to go there before doing so.” 

 

Red doesn't want to hurt his feelings by telling him the last region he would ever go to would be Alola, so he just smiles sheepishly and nods again. 

 

“Good, good, now listen I wanted to talk to you about something very important. I'm sure you know by now that the pokedex has been ever-expanding, especially with new regions everyday cataloging new species,” Oak set a pokedex and a camera in his hands. “I was hoping you would be willing to help contain the mess a little bit, by getting new photos of pokemon and consolidating all the information for every pokemon to make a much neater national dex.” 

 

Red glances down at the two items, and nonchalantly drops them back on the desk, shaking his head. 

 

“No?” Oak asks. His disappointment isn't concealed very well, and Red takes to staring intently at the drawing of a squirtle that “4 year old Caleb” drew. “I thought you would appreciate having a task to do rather staying locked up at home. Perhaps I was wrong.”

 

Red wishes he could write quickly and neatly because he would explain to Oak just why he couldn't. He simply didn’t have the energy to pour into that anymore. He was still recovering from frostbitten toes and fingers from Mt Silver seven years ago, if that were even possible. 

 

“Well, if you can't do that,” Oak says, popping his train of thought. “I ordered a book for Blue, would you be able to take it to him for me? It's hard for these old bones to get to Viridian and back.” 

 

Red also wants to tell Oak to go fuck himself, but he figures Viridian isn't  _ that  _ far, maybe a fifteen minute bike ride, and it's not like he has to even look at Blue, he could probably stuff it in his mailbox and run home. Maybe after he did this favor Oak would allow him to wallow in his depression forever untouched. 

 

Maybe getting out and taking a walk wouldn't be that bad, so he accepts the book that Oak gives him, titled “Pokemon Evolution & Growth”. It's thick and heavy, but slides neatly in his worn-down bag. He also clutches Vee’s pokeball in his hand, should he happen to run into any wild Pokemon on the short walk. 

 

Two minutes into biking and he suddenly realizes how infested the area is with Pidgey and Ratatta attempting to start battles. Even with Vee out of her ball constantly, and her weaving him through the least populated areas of grass, it's nearly impossible to go more than a minute without making Vee pounce on something to get it out of the way. 

 

Maybe he hadn't noticed when he was ten, and excited to death over his new pikachu, and catching all these hordes of Pokemon was so new and thrilling that he hadn't thought about just how many Pokemon were on the route to Viridian. 

 

It's more than annoying, and he's glad when he finally reaches the edge of the city. It extremely peaceful and quiet. If he remembers, not a lot of kids live there, though there was a small schoolhouse. 

 

Red stopped at the Pokemon center first, brushing Vee’s soft fur and feeding her some treats. Once she had safely returned to her ball, he continued his trek to other side of the town to the gym. 

 

Giovanni - no, Blue’s - gym still looks relatively the same. It's had an updated paint job but it's front plaque still says “Viridian City Gym - Home of the Earth Badge!” in big, ugly, letters from ten years ago. Red tries the door, only to find it locked, and with no mailbox in sight, he considers the crime rate in Viridian, then sets his bag down to pull the book out and prop it against the door. 

 

“Gym doesn't open until noon on Saturdays,” Comes an exhausted voice from behind him. 

 

Red whirled around, clutching the heavy book to his chest, and sure enough, there's Blue, staticky red hair, arms wrapped around a Pokemon. He's taller than Red, and thinner, and the Pokemon he's holding looks  _ way  _ too fat for him to be lugging around. 

 

Blue stares at him, practically boring holes through his head, before turning and unlocking the doors to the gym. “Well, come in.” 

 

Red follows him inside, clutching the evolution book like a shield. The gym is updated on the inside as well, new puzzles to solve, and the battling arena is polished, and lacks the stylized rocks Giovanni had put in. 

 

“So, what brings you all the way to Viridian City?” Blue asks, letting his Pokemon out of his arms. It's collar jingles, and Red notices a soothe bell attached to it. 

 

He hands over the book, and then promptly feels extremely awkward. Blue is examining the book, but his Pokemon is now staring at Red like he's a delicious meal. 

 

“Thanks,” Blue says, breaking the silence. He sets the book away, and then scoops back up his fat pokemon. “I didn't know you were back from that mountain.” 

 

Red can't bring himself to say he's been back for seven years, so he just shrugs. It falls eerily quiet again. Red itches to force him into a Pokemon battle, to fall back into the familiar pattern, but he only has Vee with him, and Blue is an official Gym Leader. 

 

“Have you met Luna before?” Blue asks. Red shakes his head, and Blue points over to the fat Pokemon again. “She evolved from that little eevee I had, but she's kind of a primadonna now.” 

 

Luna yawns, and lays her head down, resting. He supposes he had met Luna, but that years ago now, when she was a bright eyed Eevee that was too sweet for her bratty trainer. 

 

“It's a Sylveon, if you couldn't tell,” Blue explains. “When I was studying in Kalos I learned a lot about evolution and fairy types.” 

 

Red had almost forgotten that Blue had studied abroad. He knew it had happened, because his mother begged him to go see him before he left, but he had just stayed in his room and watched videos online. 

 

“So, were you actually here for the Earth Badge? It is noon now,” Blue says. Red wonders if he's talking to just fill the silence. 

 

Red shakes his head. 

 

“Heh, figured not,” Blue pulled out one of his pokeballs and rolled it in his hand. “Well, if you ever decide to, remember you need the seven other badges first.”

 

Red leaves a few minutes later, holding gift meant for Oak, knowing what Blue had said wasn't an invitation. 

 

It was a  _ challenge. _


	2. Brock

Red decides he wants to only take Chi with him for his journey. 

 

Most of his pokemon were old and didn't really care for battling anymore - Not that's even tried to get them to battle in the past seven years. Paddle might be the only one with fight still in her, but she was said to have evolved from dinosaurs, he's sure she'll outlive even him. 

 

So he takes Chi, the adventurous pichu that chews on his hair, and Paddle as well, although he tells himself he  _ won't  _ use her, she's there just in case, he doesn't really wanna get attacked by wild pokemon if Chi faints. Chi will get strong without the others help, and he'll see to it. 

 

Thankfully, Route 1 is full of clumsy pidgeys that have just gotten their wings, and even with Chi's weak shocks, they go down fairly easily. Even the rattatas put up little fight - that, or Chi is getting stronger. 

 

He dawdles there a while, letting Chi gain experience while she still has the advantage, before making his way into Viridian. He heads straight for the pokemon center, letting the nurse care for his pichu, and decides to send Paddle back to his home through the PC. 

 

He remembers when the PC was a bulky piece of equipment shoved to the side of the center, where you would have to stand on your toes to hit the buttons and see the screen. Now, it’s a flat touch screen with a pokeball return hidden in a hole in the desk. 

 

A few button presses later, and Paddle is back on her way to his home, just as Chi comes back to him in her pokeball. 

 

He places his hand near his mouth and motions to thank the nurse on attendance, scooping the ball up. He let's Chi out as soon as they're passed the sliding double doors. 

 

Viridian Forest is the next on the map, but considering he doesn't have his sturdy bulbasaur, or Leaf clearing out the bugs with her charmander, he stops at the pokemart to buy as many antidotes and potions that he can stuff in his ill-equipped bag. He should probably get something bigger, but Pallet already feels ages away, so he wanders down the aisles trying to find a bigger backpack. 

 

There's TMs, cases, milk, drinks, bag charms, junk food, pokeballs and pokeball accessories, maps, potions, magazines and dozens of other things in the cramped little mart, and no bag. He pulls a wrapped dozen case of potions off the shelf, and a as many antidotes as he can hold to the front counter, only stopped in his tracks by a glossy magazine cover. 

 

The cover is a picture of a scowling Janine and her ace, Venomoth, with bold letters: “Gym Leader Tips and Tricks!”. Red hesitates only briefly before putting it in his pile of stuff. 

 

The cashier greets him and scans his items quickly and cheerfully. “Have you challenged the Viridian Gym?”

 

Red shakes his head curtly. 

 

“Oh you should!” The cashier hands the items back to him, holding his hand out for payment. Red hands over his credit chip. “Viridian couldn't ask for a better gym leader, and that Sylveon of his is as cute as a button.” 

 

A really fat button, if Red remembered correctly, although he doesn't say anything. He takes his receipt and shoves everything in to his bag. 

 

Back when they were all still friends, Blue had received an eevee as a gift for helping out a pokemon maniac - Bill. Blue was certain he was going to evolve his Luna into a Jolteon, but never found a thunder stone. 

 

Leaf  _ had _ suggested buying one from the Celadon Store where they weren't a luxury, but Blue turned his nose up and just kept carrying his fat little pokemon around. It was the first time Red had seen Blue really bond with a pokemon, and he would have bet that deep down, Blue didn't want her to evolve at all. 

 

But, obviously a lot changes in ten years, because page ten of the informative magazine boasts Blue's long time partner, Sylveon, as the mascot of the gym. 

 

The booklet also includes the other members of Blue's full team. There's a suggested course for completing gyms, and no matter how it's sliced, Blue is always last. Red flips back to Brock, the gym leader he'll be battling the soonest, and his team hasn't changed much since when he challenged as a kid. If you're battling him for your first badge he geodude, and an onix, with the tip for the gym being to bring just about anything except an electric or fire type. 

 

He pets Chi's head. He knew he wasn't going to have just Chi his whole journey but he wishes he could have kept it as just the two of them for a little while. 

 

Thankfully, caterpie are in abundance in Viridian forest and the first one he encounters allows itself to be captured after Chi growls at it. He switches between the two while he navigates the thick grass and nasty, thorny trees, to let Vine get more experience with battling. 

 

Bug pokemon grow fast, and Vine is no exception. In no time at all, Vine is a beautiful butterfree with clear crystalline wings. He sits on the forest floor with his two pokemon and digs through his bag trying to find his TM case. He finds a couple of squashed berries and lets Chi eat them, before finding his TM case and flipping through it to find what he wants. 

 

He gestures for Vine to use one of his powders, and a sickly sweet sleep powder falls from its wings. He attaches the Dream Eater TM to his pokedex and teaches the contents of it to Vine. 

 

It takes a while, repeating the process several times on unsuspecting weedles while he kneels on the wet, mossy ground of the forest, using the same gestures over and over. Eventually, it clicks with Vine and he uses sleep powder and dream eater with scary accuracy, along with his already learned Confusion and Whirlwind, Red knows they're ready for Brock. 

 

The nice thing about Kanto is that everything is very close together. Sometimes it seemed rather cramped, but aside from a few sprawling caves and forests, it’s easy to navigate. Thus, only a few more minutes of walking and he’s greeted with a sign that he’s exited Viridian Forest. 

 

Shrubs and tall grass crop up still, close to Pewter, but once the tidy stone paths make way, nearly everything is cleared out. Vine chitters near his head while he walks along the path to the city. 

 

Pewter has grown a lot in the last ten years - like a lot of things have. The city has expanded to something of a college campus, easy to walk around but swimming with late teens and young adults. There’s large dorm buildings, research labs, and several buildings stacked near each other that must be the actual education halls. The museum is on the south side of the college now, and Brock's gym is squirreled away next door to the Pokemon Center. 

 

He stops at the center first, letting the nurse take his two pokemon while he sits and waits on the provided couch. He takes the gym leader magazine out of his backpack to pass the time. 

 

The thick magazine is arranged by regions - at least the most known ones. Alola, Fiore and Almia aren't included. He flips it back over to Kanto - marked by their bright orange tabs. Along with a fold away map, there’s a general guide for where to find most pokemon in Kanto - although Kanto was notorious for having the lowest pokemon population. 

 

The gym leader section covered Gym tips and tricks and what the leaders were like. Brock had a soft spot for young kids, Erika only allowed children and women to enter her gym, Janine used the same team whether it was your first or last badge. 

 

“Sir,” the nurse called, flagging for him. “Your pokemon have been healed, please come collect them.” 

 

He tucks the magazine under his arm and collects his two pokeballs, allowing them both to escape from them the second they've stepped outside the pokemon center. 

 

Brock had never been a horribly hard gym leader - when he was eleven, toting around a spunky bulbasaur and a fiesty pikachu, he had made rather quick work of the gym. Even Leaf, who had grabbed the charmander before either boy could pick had little trouble with the man, using her Nidoran with double kick to make short work of it. 

 

This time however, he doesn't have a bulbasaur armed with grass moves, or Blue “weakening” the gym for him.  Not that ever had needed that - Blue was just an ass with an ego the size of Jupiter. 

 

The inside of the gym smells vaguely of dirt and mud, and the admissions  area takes his pokedex, identification two pokemon and gives him a slip stating he’s allowed to officially partake in the Indigo League Challenge. “Please return here if you earn a badge, so we can stamp your card.” The aide says, returning his things to him. He had heard there was a big deal a few years ago with rowdy teens making fake gym badges to get in to Indigo Plateau quickly. The security and overall challenge had to be changed to prevent that from happening again. 

 

He supposes at least it makes kids safer, having adults you can rely on at every step, but he always had Leaf and Blue, and Professor Oak at least called to check up on them every so often, even if it was only to thank him for filling more pages of the pokedex. 

 

Red nodded his head in understanding, looking at the slip with his name across the top, as well as the case provided to keep gym badges. The slip contained several large boxes for stamps to be placed, and in small letters at the bottom there’s a note: 8 of 11 stamps must be collected. 

 

He pockets the possessions and steps fully into the gym. Out of all of them, Brock’s is the most desolate. While most gyms have puzzles or ace trainers to battle to prove your worth, Brock stands alone in the sandy Japanese garden, feeding his pokemon lumpy rice balls. 

 

Red enters the room more fully, standing squarely on the cement slab meant for him, and gestures for Vine to take place over the sandy battlefield. 

 

“Are you here for the challenge?” Brock calls, from the other side. His Omastar clings to his leg. Red nods. “My name is Brock, but I’m sure you know that. Is this your first gym challenge?” Red nods again. 

 

Brock returns his Omastar, and instead sends out the ferocious looking Onix. 

 

The battle is over in fifteen minutes. 

 

Red cradles his victorious butterfree in his hands, and gladly accepts the badge that Brock offers to him, as well as the handshake and TM given. “Congratulations on beating your first gym, you can take your badge to have it stamped at the front. And please be careful on the rest of you journey.” 

 

Red thanks him, and heads out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this please leave a kudos or a comment (I appreciate it!) or come see me on tumblr @dabikoto! ♡
> 
> Also please suggest pokemon for Red's team! I have some ideas but I wanna hear your thoughts!


	3. Bill's House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this chapter was going to be a lot different but I struggled so much with it I just decided to split it into two different chapters and hope for the best

Red had completely forgotten about Mt Moon blocking his path to Cerulean City, and honestly, looking at the huge mountain in front of him, and remembering the dark paths he navigated as a kid, makes him not want to step anywhere near it. 

 

A hiker outside of the cave, who he battles, informs him the only way to Cerulean is to go through Mt Moon or ask the Viridian Gym Leader to fly you in with his pidgeot. 

 

So, Red secures his bag to his back, recalls his pokemon into their balls and heads into the cave. 

 

Mt Moon was pretty barren, dark, and annoying. He placed a hand on a wall, moving along quickly and quietly. Some of the particularly annoying Zubat's would occasionally bump into something and illuminate the cave with flash, but the moments were too quick and infrequent to be counted on. 

 

_ This is fucking annoying,  _ He couldn’t help but think. He couldn’t even remember how he navigated before, especially with Team Rocket roaming around it like cockroaches.  He knew he had the HM for Flash buried somewhere in his TM Case but it was so useless and Pokemon had such a hard time forgetting HM taught moves. 

 

Thankfully, thanks to not using Flash, most wild pokemon steer clear of him. He'll trip over the occasional Paras but compared to the hoarders of Zubat's he can hear all around him - he'll take a couple Paras any day. 

 

Eventually, he nears the end. After having fallen on his butt trying to descend on to the lower floor of the Mountain, Red is beyond ready to leave and heal himself up in Cerulean. 

 

He's not greeted by Cerulean's welcoming roads, however, but playing children that want to Pokemon battle. 

 

There's three of them, dirty with sand and grass stains, holding outside toys. “Mister! Will you battle us?” One of the girls asks, holding up a pokeball. 

 

Not wanting to be  _ that guy _ , he accepts. He's also heard horror stories and doesn't want to have his already famous profile marked with stories of little girls trying him to a tree with jump ropes. 

 

The little girl that wants to battle has a Magby that emerges from her pokeball - and that's when Red realizes he really needs to get another pokemon on his roster. Vine will scorch and faint if he lets her battle, so Chi gets the honor of battling, even if it makes the battle a little tedious. 

 

He wondered if there were any good water types around. Something bulky, like a mitotic or a vaporeon. He's thinking about Leaf trading him a Milotic that he doesn’t even notice when the Magby uses confuse ray and Chi falls on its face trying to use spark. 

 

He didn't even know  _ Magby _ could learn confuse ray. He uses a couple more gestures, but it's useless, combined with Magby's attacks and Chi's confusion, the battle is over in another minute. He gently recalls Chi to the pokeball, and hands a few hundred yen to the Magby girl. 

 

“Thank you, mister!” The girl says, and returns to happily playing with her friends. Probably waiting for more poor bastards to limp out of Mt Moon, barely holding their pokemon together. 

 

Red is very careful to avoid other trainers and tall grass the rest of his way to Cerulean. The first thing he needs to do is heal his pokemon, the second is call Leaf and request a trade for a water type. 

 

Cerulean has remained relatively the same. Unlike Pewter's expanding college town, with sprawling buildings and cobblestone walks, Cerulean is mostly grass and a few houses. There's sprinkler systems set up along the walks, and little koi ponds that kids poke and splash at, but aside from that, Cerulean looks the same it did ten years ago. 

 

You would think that with a name like Cerulean, and a water type gym placed there, that you would find a good water type nearby, but if the countless hours he spent splashing around in the water near nugget bridge was any indication - you  _ can't.  _ Magikarp are as common as dirt, and raising one to the mighty gyarados was no easy task. Trust him, he remembers doing it when he was eleven. 

 

So while he gives the nurse his pokemon he sends Leaf a fairly passive aggressive message requesting a water type. Now that she lived in Sinnoh he was sure there would be no shortage of them, and he'd even be willing to send her a fire type in exchange. Everyone knew Sinnoh didn't have any native fire types. 

 

It doesn't take long for Leaf to respond. He imagines her days of being a champion's wife includes doing a whole lot looking pretty and nothing else - and he feels like the speed of her replies proves it. 

 

_ Leaf: lmao no.  _

_ Leaf: why do you want one anyways?  _

_ Leaf: don’t you have like a hundred and eighty pokemon already  _

 

He did, and he was very sour that she was bringing this up right now. He couldn't explain the exact science of not just picking his Lapras back up, because Leaf never “got” his and Blue's rivalry. 

 

_ Leaf: actually Dawn says if you send a charmander she'll find you a piplup _

 

_ Red: where am I supposed to find a charmander? _

 

_ Leaf: idk ask the viridian gym leader. I hear his grandpa is like, a professor  _

 

_ Red: you know I'm not gonna do that  _

 

_ Leaf: boo no piplup for you :(  _

 

Realizing he might have to suck it up, or go wading for a magikarp, he replaces his phone in his bag and returns to the front counter for his pokemon. Misty owns a water type gym, and Vermillion hosted the electric gym, so snagging a water type wasn't a priority, but it definitely needed to happen sometime soon. Having a pichu and a butterfree as his only partners wasn't spelling out anything too great. 

 

He decides to head towards Nugget Bridge and Route 25 - at the very least he can get some battles out of his pokemon and give them more experience. Vine would definitely need it - bug types fell behind far too quickly. 

 

Route 25 is overrun by oddish and bellsprout that hide in the tall weeds. There's one oddish that even after Vine knocks it out with whirlwind that comes behind him to knock him over. Eventually he throws a pokeball at it, just to see if it will stay. Unsurprisingly it does, and he let's it out to walk around with his other two. 

 

He's not good at nicknames and he doesn't know what to call the odd looking plant pokemon. He just lets it fumble around on it’s weird legs - using headbutts and leech seed. It doesn't fare while battling against other grass types so he sets his bag on the grass, rolls up his pant legs and wades out in the shallow waters, cradling his Fern. 

 

Magikarp hop out quick and are defeated for easy experience, same with any tentacool that come their way. He makes sure to steer clear of those, since they creep him out and their tentacles are said to be dangerous. 

 

Chi and Vine stay near the shore, although they could both use the experience, but he doesn't bother them. He knows neither of them care for the water, although Fern seems to love it. Besides, they're playing nicely, battering at each other with low level attacks. 

 

Red spends a few more minutes with Fern before he gets out of the water, with clammy skin and wrinkled toes. His wet feet attract all the grass and dirt underneath him, and he has to use a piece of paper from his bag to dry them off enough to stuff his socks and shoes back on. 

 

If he remembered correctly, Bill lived nearby. He only remembers the weird man because him and Blue had helped him out after he combined his body with that of a clefairy - and Blue was still the one that was gifted a pokemon. He had been gifted several evolution stones, which he had mercilessly teased Blue about. At the time, Eevee was thought to only have three evolutions, and Blue may have gotten the pokemon, but Red was given the stones to evolve said pokemon. 

 

He wonders if he could beg more stones out of Bill - something to evolve his Fern when the time came. Evolution stones could be rare nowadays, and he was so close to Bill's that it couldn't hurt to try. 

 

Thankfully, Bill is home and not across the sea in Johto. He answers on the first knock and ushers Red into his home. It's not until Red is sitting at the tiny, low table and being forced to drink Echinacea tea that he regrets even stepping in the direction of the house. 

 

Across the table from him is Blue, cradling his Sylveon in his arms while she sleeps. Red just has all the luck. 

 

“I'm surprised to see you off that mountain, Red! I remember when you two were here when you were little and then the next thing I know you're on a mountain and Blue is an exchange student in Kalos!” Bill says, pouring hot tea into a little cup. 

 

Red ignores him, instead fixing his gaze on the photos of pokemon around the house. 

 

“Still not much of a talker, huh?” 

 

Blue laughs at that. 

 

“It’s so nice to see all you kids grown up. Y'know, I was actually talking to Leaf the other day-” Bill continues, even though neither him, nor Blue, have said a word the entire time. That was nice at least, he doesn’t have to pretend to be friendly, and Blue can continue to ignore him. 

 

At some point, Bill stops chattering and inspects Luna. Red connects that they must have been here for a check-up of some sort, and watches as Sylveon is weighed, examined and prodded. 

 

“Luna is really quite overweight, are you using the special food I gave you last time?” Bill asked Blue. 

 

“Yeah, of course,” Blue laughed nervously. “Look I'm not here for you to tell me she's fat, I know that already.” 

 

Bill rolled his eyes, mumbling something about  _ children,  _ before turning back to the pokemon at hand. “As far as I can tell, she’s in perfect health. I've never met a more doted on sylveon, however.” 

 

Blue's ears tinged red, while he picked his pokemon back up, folding her near his chest. “Well, you know. Can't have my ace being uncared for.” 

 

Red was having a hard time believing Luna was an ace pokemon, now that he actually had a good look at her. She looked like she was ready for a snack and a nap. Her coat was unusually shiny, and her nails were filed neatly and painted a light blue. Red made a scissoring gesture near his hair, before realizing that wasn't quite what he wanted to convey, and instead grappled awkwardly with his hands. 

 

Blue, however, did seem to understand, and gave a bright smile. “Yeah she does go to the salon, Red! There’s one in Goldenrod, we go every month.” 

 

That had to be expensive. Red hadn't been trying to create an opening for conversation either, so he simply drops his hands to his side and fixes his gaze on the photographs again. Blue had always been exceptionally good with people, and Red had been no exception - he knew how to get under his skin, and Red braces himself for more merciless teasing, but instead Blue shrugs, and heads towards the door. 

 

“I'll see you in a couple months, Bill. Thanks for taking a look at Luna for me!” 

 

“No worries, it was my pleasure. I do love getting a chance to spend anytime I can with those darling evolutions.” 

 

Blue steps into his shoes, sends one more dazzling smile their way, and leaves. Red finally allows himself to exhale. 

 

“He wasn’t going to bite you,” Bill says, from his desk. He’s moved on now, inputting sylveon data on a rather complex looking machine. 

 

Red shrugs in reply. 

 

“I know he was an asshole kid, but honestly who wasn't?” Bill asks, turning towards him. 

 

Red points to himself, and Bill barks with laughter. “Sure, sure. Now lemme guess, you were here for something, right? Not just a good visit with old man Bill?”

 

Forty minutes later he finally exits Bill's house with a pocketed Leaf Stone, a box of tea, and a journal with a clefable stamped on the front. It’s nearly dark so he decides to return to the pokemon center for the night, and tomorrow challenge Ceruleun's gym. 

 

Or, that was his plan if Blue wasn't leaning against a post on Nugget bridge, with a sly smirk on his face. “Hey Red, wanna battle?” Blue asks. 


	4. Battle on Nugget Bridge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blue's Team: 
> 
> Pyrrha (Meowstic)  
> Luna (Sylveon)  
> Archie (Arcanine)
> 
> Red's Team: 
> 
> Chi (Pichu)  
> Vine (Butterfree)  
> Fern (Oddish)

Gym Leaders aren't supposed to battle unless for a badge, or league approved. Championship battles in other regions were also allowed, under certain conditions. Considering that Nugget Bridge is meeting none of those conditions however, Red tilts his cap down over his eyes and attempts to walk past Blue. 

 

“I just talked to Leaf,” Blue called after him. “She says you're looking for a charmander, and I'll give you one if you battle me.” 

 

That piques his interest. He pauses, and reaches for Chi's pokeball. Blue casually tosses a love ball in the air, and it snaps open, revealing a peculiar looking pokemon with wide yellow eyes. 

 

He couldn't even begin to guess what the pokemon was called, but it's appearance was feline-like, even if it stood on two legs. The pokemon stared unnervingly at Red without blinking. “So, Red if you win, I'll give you charmander.”

 

Red smirked and let Chi out. He couldn't remember the last time he lost to Blue - maybe their very first battle, when he had no idea what his Bulbasaur was capable of, and Blue had spent hours pouring over tactic books to calculate how to use any of the three starters. He wasn't about to start a losing streak now. 

 

“And if I win… you'll go on a date with me.”  

 

_ No,  _ he replied, along with the motion for  _ asshole,  _ but he’s not even sure if Blue catches it. A date? What the fuck did Blue think he was on - was he trying to embarrass him again? Did Leaf tell him about his stupid kiddie crush on Blue from when they were eleven? 

 

“So is it a deal then?” Blue asks, smiling like he’s already won, and his pokemon lets out a drawn out mewl, ears pricking towards her trainer. “One on one. First to faint loses.” 

 

Red nodded, and points for Chi to take a battle stance versus Blue. Blue's feline pokemon faces towards him, ears drooping. 

 

In a typical gym fight you take turns, unlike on the road battles which can range from being fair to rage inducingly unfair, gym fights require turn based attacks and general thought put into the fight. The only advantage Red has over Blue is that he doesn’t need to verbally command his pokemon, but if the guidebook was anything to go by, that wasn't going to throw Blue off. 

 

He has Chi open with thunder wave - which makes the air stiff and sticky. Over the crackle of the air, Blue calls for “Pyrrha” to use future sight - and her ears stand straight up and her eyes go wide, standing still until Chi headbutts her. 

 

“Pyrrha, use psyshock!” Blue yells, and Pyrrha’s eyes go wide again, but doesn't move, held in place by the thunder wave. 

 

Chi uses thundershock, knocking Pyrrha backwards. She regroups and stands up, aiming for another psyshock. The rocks around it rising in the air, before shooting quickly towards Chi. Chi manages to dodge a few, but a couple pelt him, and he rolls over, crying out. 

 

He urges Chi to stand again, but before he can get his feet underneath, the sky seemingly opened up and an invisible psychic entity attacked Chi, slamming him back to the ground. Red waits with bated breath, but Chi doesn't stir again. 

 

“Well, looks like that's a match.” Blue let's out a low whistle, returning Pyrrha to her love ball. “So, where do you wanna go for our date?” 

 

Before he can stop himself, he crosses the length of the bridge and pushes Blue as hard as he can muster. His body is hard and fragile underneath his hands, not the same squishiness he had under layers of clothes as a kid. He rears his arm back, hand somewhere between a fist and a slap, before realizing Blue hasn’t even stopped him at all. 

 

Which, if he really wanted to, he could. Blue was several inches taller, and although he was skinny, Blue picked up a nearly seventy pound sylveon and carried it everywhere with him. “You could have just said you didn't want to go out,” Blue said with a laugh, when Red let's go of him. 

 

Red gives him a hard look and returns Chi to his pokeball, and places it back in his bag. He adjusts his bag again and makes his way back to the pokemon center, and doesn't bother looking back at Blue. 

 

The Cerulean pokemon center has already been dimmed and silenced for the night - the nurse on duty silently takes his pokeballs with a glare, and after exchanging his identification and money, gives him a card for a room on the basement floor. Young trainers and teens sleep in a crowded lounge room, too poor or young to take the rooms. Some of them sleep guarded, rolled in balls around their bags and tightly wound in their blankets. Others lay on top of each other, so you're unable to tell where one starts and the other stops. 

 

Only one teen is awake when Red stops through - holding her ds tightly in her hands while she blinks tired eyes. She reminds him a lot of Blue at that age - they all used to sleep in lounge rooms together but Blue would stay awake until he passed out, too stubborn to miss even a moment of his pokemon journey. 

 

He cards his room open - pokemon centers provided small rooms with a bed and a small bathroom to refresh in the morning. He only bothers to kick his shoes off before he collapses in bed and falls asleep.  

 

Come morning, he doesn’t bother heading to the main floor quite yet, it’ll be packed with kids getting their pokeballs back from the attendant and he'd rather shower and eat a snack of some sort before heading out anyways. 

 

He chews his granola bar and orange slices carefully while he considers the day. He could take on Misty's gym and be in Saffron by sunset if he played his cards right - Kanto was almost an embarrassment of a region, it was so jammed together. Vermillion, Saffron and Celadon could really be districts of one city if there wasn't so much squabble over Gym spacing. 

 

If the grandeur tales Leaf tells of Sinnoh are anything, Kanto is but a blip on the map compared to some of the other regions. 

 

Misty's gym would probably take him all of two seconds - between Chi and Fern. He could probably walk in and walk right back out within ten minutes, and then head right in to Saffron. Sabrina might be an issue, but he pushes the thought out of his head and throws away his garbage. 

 

The woman on attendance happily hands him his pokemon, and while he stuffs them in his bag pocket, she also places an envelope and a fourth ball in front of him - a shiny white premier ball. 

 

He looks at it quizzingly, but the attendant has moved on and the envelope has his name on it so he takes it and the ball, moving to a quiet corner in the center to open the envelope. 

 

_ Hey Red! I left the charmander with the nurse on duty (Joyous I think?) - you move pretty damn fast and I didn't want to throw it at your head in case you really decide to follow through with beating the shit out of me.  _

 

_ He’s a spunky little shit of a charmander but I have my Archie and Gramps says he's too much of a handful to give to new trainers so you get him.  _

 

_ It's pretty late and I have to get back to Viridian so just give me a call when you're ready for our date, I heard Saffron has some good places to eat!  _

 

_ -Blue (xxx) xxx-xxxx _

 

Red crumples the note in his fist and shoves it into his bag. Blue can go fuck himself. 

 


	5. Cerulean & Saffron

Cerulean Gym smells strongly of chlorine. It’s also wet, and every little sound echoes around, making him uncomfortable. 

Another uncomfortable tidbit information is that the Gym no longer serves as just a gym, it also doubles as a community pool, and although it's certainly not packed, there's enough people present that he wants to crawl out of his skin and die. 

The admissions section reviews his indigo league card, as well as takes identification for his four pokemon. After his gym battle he'll need to trade Charmander for Dawn's Piplup. The woman hands back his pokeballs and points with her pen to the hallway. 

“To your left is the area for gym challengers, you'll face two ace trainers before your battle with Misty. You  _ may  _ leave between matches but you'll have to return to me each time you reenter the gym.” 

He nods and walks to the hallway - to the left the door says “Gym” in large letters, with water pokemon stickers. To the right, “Pool”, however it doesn’t have a door and he can hear the shrieks of laughter from young children. 

Chi wipes the floor with the ace trainers, only the having a bit of an issue with a lotad the second trainer sends out. He supposes he should have used Vine in that moment instead, and used whirlwind, but hindsight is twenty-twenty. 

When he gets to Misty, who looks like she just crawled out of the pool, he switches over to Fern instead. His little oddish emerges from the ball with a shriek and shakes her grass while waiting for Misty to make her move. 

Unfortunately Misty doesn’t start by welcoming him to her gym and sending out her staryu. Instead she smiles brightly and waves to him. “Aren't you the one that used to follow Blue around like a lovesick puppy?” 

Red's cheeks burned, and he shook his head quickly. 

“Yes you were!” Misty teased. “You were that little boy with the red cap! I remember you. I gave Blue his badge and not even ten minutes later you were here!” 

Red shook his head again, because god, he hoped he wasn't that obvious. Sure he had a crush on Blue when they were younger, Blue was  _ cool,  _ Blue was practical and smart and had picked out his own name and his room was covered from floor to ceiling in posters. Everyone had a crush on Blue. 

Besides, he didn't want to remembered as the kid with a crush on Blue. He'd rather be remembered as the weird kid that didn't talk and still managed to take Kanto by storm. 

“You sure have gotten a lot taller, and what did you do with your hat? It was an important piece of your look!” 

Red touched his hair self consciously. Maybe he'd pick up a hat while in Saffron. He smashed his hair down so it wasn't sticking straight up, and tried to make the bangs presentable. 

“Anyways! You're here for a battle, right? Let's get this on!” Misty sent out her Staryu, as if she were the one waiting around for Red to get his shit together. He rolled his eyes, and set up leech seed. 

Misty's staryu falls easily, followed quickly by her starmie. Once starmie is safely returned to their ball she walks across the wet tiles to Red to hand him the badge. 

“As the leader of Cerulean Gym, I present to you the cascade badge,” Misty says, while she hands it to him. “You can take it up to the front to have it stamped.” 

Red signs a thanks, hoping she'll let him go now. His Fern definitely needs a small rest before they set out toward Saffron. She doesn't. 

“If you need any help along the way, just ask! I'm only a phone call away, actually, here.” She takes her phone out of her swimsuit cover and hands it to him. He considers plugging a fake number in, but he doesn't, and hands the phone back to her when he's done. She grins. 

He leaves the gym a few minutes later, with his stamped card and a technical machine that Misty insisted she never used anymore. He pulls out his phone and texts Leaf that he's ready to trade whenever she is, and waits in the lobby of the pokemon center while his pokemon heal. 

_ Leaf: wow you squeezed it out of him fast  _

_ Leaf: we have a piplup that was born two weeks ago that you can have lemme get back home and I'll set up a trade <3 _

_ Red: thanks _

A few minutes later his phone buzzes with a request for trade and he walks over to the station used for trading, entering Leaf's info, and sets Charmander's premier ball in. He tapped on the monitor, waiting for it to initialize, and after an excruciating moment, it finally did. The ball disappeared, and in its place was a regular pokeball with a star seal. Red grabbed it and added it to his bag, before collecting his other three pokemon from the nurse. 

Once outside of the pokemon center he lets his pokemon out. The piplup settles in his arms, looking warily at the world around her. His other pokemon all dart forward, not straying too far from him, but none of them cozy up to him like the little piplup does. 

He heads south towards Saffron. Since there's no lazy man requesting tea before he's allowed in, he’s able to pass through and into Saffron almost immediately. Kanto is small, and he knows this, but he's still in awe at how quickly he's in Saffron. 

Saffron is the largest city in Kanto, with Vermillion, Cerulean and Celadon, although  _ technically  _ cities, are more like districts to the large city. Saffron hails two gyms - Sabrina's and the Fighting Dojo. When he was younger the Fighting Dojo didn't count as anything except experience, but he had heard on the news that it had been League recognized as of two years ago. 

Although the gym is his main point of interest, there's other things to do - pokemon contests, a pokemon park, a mall, bars and cafes and restaurants. The magnet train which has dozens of people milling around waiting for it.

The choices are endless and instead of picking one he goes out to Route 5 and works with his pokemon. Fern and Chi he would like to have evolve soon, and Pippi needed some experience under her belt before they went any further.  He sends his four pokemon out, and most of them start and finish battles on their own, aside from Pippi who requires a little bit of coaxing before she gets a handle on rinse and repeat battling. 

Fern is the first to evolve, and he stops helping Pippi to walk over to them, watching their grass curl in on itself, and it’s body plump up. A few minutes later, he has a sleepy Gloom on his hands. 

Fern smiles and jumps at Red, knocking some powder off her flower. He's heard rumors that Gloom's powders don’t affect their trainer, but that's an obvious lie, so he quickly brushes it off when it stings his skin. 

“Now it’s your turn,” He motions to his Chi. Chi responds by licking its paws, obviously ignoring him. He's not sure what's with him and rat pokemon not wanting to evolve for him.  _ Please _ , he signs, smiling so his Chi knows he'd really like it if he evolved. 

Chi turns with a huff back into the tall grass, shocking a pidgey that gets in his way. He follows them and picks Chi up in his arms. He would worry about evolving them into a pikachu after he defeated Sabrina.  

Sabrina's gym is dark and spooky, and weird. It’s made up of opaque panels and flip doors and warp tiles. He goes through admissions routine again, for the second time that day, and flips the first panel open to enter the gym. 

The interesting thing about Sabrina's gym is that even though it’s crawling with ace trainers, you don't actually have to battle them to get to her, they're just to throw you off track while you're trying to solve the maze of her gym. 

Needless to say, however, he get battles three in a row and when he turns to open another panel, he finds himself back at the admissions desk. He scratches his head, because, damn he doesn't remember it being this confusing as a kid, but everything is dark and creeping him the hell out, and he just wants to find Sabrina and go to bright and sunny Celadon. 

After he passes the same trainer four times, Emmeryn or Emmerson, whatever her name was, she points him in the right direction. Maybe it's because he's been confused for so long, but once he moves on to the correct room he finds Sabrina rather easily. 

Sabrina dresses like she's going to cut you, or maybe take everything in you during a divorce. She wore a blazer and a pencil skirt, paired with heels so high she’s taller than Red. Her face wasn't much better either - straight cut bob, dark plum lipstick, and sharp eyeliner. 

Red remembered her being terrifying as a child, but in a different way, now she wasn't the spooky woman that knew telekinesis, now she was just downright  _ terrifying _ .

“This will be a three on three battle. Please select your first pokemon,” Sabrina says, although her voice doesn’t fill the room, it’s all in his head. Dizzily, he reaches for Vine's pokeball and sends them out first. 

Sabrina’s first pokemon is one he’s never seen before, a little green blob that looks like candy stuck inside a jello ball. It's cute in a funky way, but the damn thing has already set up light screen while he wasn't paying attention. 

The battlefield is silent - neither him nor Sabrina talk, so aside from the occasion noise from his pokemon, the room stays quiet. Vine uses bug buzz, and takes a psywave attack, but quickly finishes off the blob with a headbutt. Vine seems to still be doing fine, so he keeps them there while Sabrina recalls the jello, and sends out a kadabra instead. 

He remembers Kadabra being a huge pain in the ass, but at least he knows what he's up against, and it’s not some mysterious pokemon. Kadabra more or less does the same thing, sets up and then hits with psychic. Except psychic hits his Vine a little bit harder than anticipated, and Vine falls to the ground without moving. 

_ Fuck,  _ He thought, because now he has three pokemon that aren't super effective at all to Sabrina's pokemon. He supposes Chi knew bite, but bite isn't  _ great,  _ and compared to his other pokemon, Chi was starting to fall behind since it refused to evolve.

He recalls Vine and throws out Chi instead, who looks betrayed about being called out. He sets up double team, and Kadabra's psychic fortunately misses, and has her use bite. It still isn't enough to take out Kadabra unfortunately, and Chi goes down with a well placed Night Shade. 

He returns his Chi and sends out Fern next. He's down to his last pokemon before he's asked to leave and come back after twenty-four hours. Sabrina smirks. Fern uses razor leaf, which  _ thankfully _ , takes out Kadabra. He doesn't have high hopes for the next battle, however, especially if it's another in the abra line. Instead, Sabrina sends out something with long spindly legs and looks something like a human child. 

He has absolutely no idea what it is, and Sabrina certainly isn't telling. He has Fern use poison powder, and the ceiling above them fills with the purple powder, falling over the unidentified pokemon. 

Sabrina's pokemon sneezes as the poison fills it's lungs, and responds with a disable. Fern surges forward with venoshock. 

Surprisingly, the little thing seems weak to it, slumping to the ground as the acid rains on it. It only slowly stands and uses psybeam with coaxing. Since venoshock seemed so effective the first time, he does it again, and this time, Sabrina's pokemon stays down. She's returns them to their pokeball, smiling. 

“You may come collect your badge, trainer,” Sabrina says, and this time it really does give him a headache. He walks over to her, holding his throbbing head, and collects the pin from her. 

This time, Sabrina talks out loud, a soft, but sexy voice. “I enjoyed our battle, but please keep your thoughts quieter next time. It makes it quite hard to concentrate.” 

He nods, although he doesn't necessarily know what she means. She rummages through her pocket and hands him a TM in a pink case. In neat letters it reads “99 - Dazzling Gleam”. He thanks her, and leaves to return to admissions. 

Next stop - Celadon City. 

**  
**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three things!!!
> 
> 1) Thank you tons to everyone who has reviewed, left a kudos and/or bookmarked! It means so much to me!!!
> 
> 2) I made a spotify playlist for Blue and Red and wanted to share it with you!! It doesn't pertain to the story and you don't have to listen to it, it's more or less to just invoke the nameless feelings!!! There is one song that's a little spoilery, however. https://open.spotify.com/user/9boj4pvcl7lnfmlbx8mcighie/playlist/2uvD1o2MyZ2BsH9dRw1T30?si=JB7_jVQDQay6O98NZGacUQ
> 
> 3) Next chapter is gonna be a big turning point in terms of Blue and Red's relationship and I was wondering if you guys wanted it in Blue's POV? I know most nameless fics are in his and not Red's so you guys might prefer keeping it in Red's but!! Lemme know!!!!


	6. Apologies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I recently started college so... updates might be a little slower from here on out. I have a full class load and work part time so!

Celadon City was called the City of Rainbows, for a good reason. It was perpetually clear, sunny and warm. Everyone was friendly, and the nurse that took his pokemon at the center was helpful and gave him advice for his upcoming gym battle. The city also housed condominiums, a department store, the game corner, and a hotel. Everything was painted a neutral color, but flower beds and cherry blossom trees brought it all to life. 

 

Red was living the dream with how great the city was, until he got to the admissions center of Erika's gym. The secretary took one look at his identification and turned him away. “I'm sorry, I don’t think this gym is for you,” the secretary said, sliding his information towards him. 

 

Why had been his biggest question, but he never got to ask it. The woman pointed to the door with her pen and he swallowed his question and walked back outside. He reached in his bag, rummaging past his pokeballs to find his cell. Surely, this would be why Misty gave him her number.

 

Except, all he has in his phone is Leaf, his mother, and Professor Oak. He tapped and double checked, but sure enough, only those three numbers were saved to his phone. He could have sworn he traded numbers with Misty just yesterday, or at least, he gave her his number. 

 

He groaned, and flipped between Leaf and Professor Oak, trying to decide who would be the most useful in this situation. Leaf hadn't lived in Kanto in nearly three years, it would be anyone’s guess if she could even  _ remember  _ Erika. Professor Oak typically avoided gyms and gym leaders, said they were pretentious waste of spaces. He wondered he was including his grandson in that statement when he made it. 

 

He tapped Leaf's name and reopened their text log. Lately it had been filled with a lot of dumb things lately. He remembered when they used to stay up texting back and forth about the different types of pokemon, how hot Cynthia was, their favorite pokemon. Red used to sketch and send photos of pokemon he drew based on Leaf's description, and now all he did lately was complain and ask for her help. 

 

He returns his phone to his bag. 

 

Since it's pretty obvious he's not getting into Erika's gym today, he heads over to Celadon Hotel. It beats sleeping in a cramped Pokemon Center room. The staff take his ID and the yen from his wallet without blinking an eye, and ten minutes later he's in a crisp clean room with the biggest bed he's ever seen, and tall windows that look over Saffron. 

 

He lays down on the bed, only taking off his shoes and bag first, and almost immediately falls asleep. 

 

When he awakens, it’s almost dark, he's starving, and he certainly hasn't found a solution to his Erika problem. He walked to the bathroom and splashed water in his face, and on his hair so it didn’t stand awkwardly from the pillow. Next, he rummaged through his bag for something to eat. He probably should have refilled on snacks while in Saffron, but  _ no,  _ he was too excited to get to Celadon. 

 

His hand brushes crumpled paper, and he unfolds it. Blue's number, right. He almost stuffs it back in his bag, until it dawns on him that Blue could get him in Erika's gym. He was a gym leader too, and it was about time he started cashing in for all the bullying Blue put him through. 

 

He types the numbers into his phone, and adds the contact “Blue” to his phone lists. 

 

_ Red: I need a favor  _

 

_ Blue: who the fuck is this  _

 

_ Red: it's me you dumbfuck  _

 

_ Blue: that doesn't really narrow it down  _

 

_ Red: it's red _

 

_ Blue: right right. What do you need. Ready for our date? (＾▽＾) _

 

The thought of food was crazy tempting, and before he could even type out no, his stomach growled. 

 

_ Red: yeah let's get food. You pay. I got something else I need from you tho  _

 

_ Blue: cryptic  _

_ Blue: pussy? _

_ Blue: where you at my dude  _

 

_ Red: celadon  _

 

_ Blue: fukkk _

_ Blue: hang on I'll be there in10 _

 

Even though Blue had said he would be there in 10 minutes, Red finds himself waiting outside the hotel for half an hour before Blue finally approaches him and shoves a paper bag into his arms. 

 

Red doesn't even need to ask why it took so long, he just rummages through the bag. He doesn't bother to be courteous, just pulls out fries and begins munching on them, listening to Blue talk. 

 

“Sorry, I was in Ecruteak when you texted. And then I stopped in Goldenrod to get you the food.” 

 

‘ _ Why were you in Ecruteak?’  _ He asked, with as few hand movements as possible. If the look on Blue's face is anything to go by, he definitely missed about everything he said. Oh well, it wasn't like he was gonna stop eating to have a conversation. 

 

“Ecruteak?” Blue asked. Red nodded. “I was there for classes. After this semester I have my bachelor's.” 

 

Huh, that was weird to think about. Blue: a gym leader with a bachelor's degree. He didn't think too much about it, just unraveled his sandwich from it's parchment and dug in. He wondered what his degree was in. 

 

“So why are you in Celadon? Last I heard Erika wasn't letting guys in her gym.” 

 

Well, that explained part of the problem. He took another bite of his food. No drink? That sort of ticked him off. He opened his bag to find his water bottle. 

 

“Are you trying to get into Celadon Gym?” Blue asked, after a moment of silence. 

 

He nodded once, tearing off another piece of sandwich. God, the food was good, he would have to go to Goldenrod sometime. He probably looked like a ravenous hyena to Blue, but he honestly didn't care. 

 

“I'll talk to Erika for you,” Blue finally says, after a long pause. Red stands to throw his garbage away and is surprised by Blue's generosity. 

 

_ Really?,  _ He asks, frowning. 

 

“Yeah, sure, why not? I guess I probably owe you a favor for being a dickhead to you when we were like, ten, not that anyone's counting but you.” Red rolled his eyes. 

 

There’s another pause, and then, “I am sorry about when we were younger, though. It was pretty uncalled for for me to act like that… I was going through my transition thing, and Gramps wasn't being supportive. And that's hard when you're ten, and I dunno, I guess I decided to take it out on you. And I'm really sorry for that.” 

 

The first thing he wants to say is,  _ it's okay _ , although he knows it isn’t. Blue bullied him relentlessly for nearly two years, shoved him around and called him names, so no it wasn't okay. 

 

So what could he say? Blue apologized to him,  _ sincerely _ , and he was sitting there looking like a deer in headlights with a mouth full of water. Did he forgive Blue? It had been a long time ago, and he supposed every little kid went through a phase like Blue did. He swallows. 

 

“I forgive you,” He finally manages to sign, even if it doesn't feel completely right, it feels like weight is off his chest.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this please leave a kudos or a comment (I appreciate it!) or come see me on tumblr @dabikoto! ♡


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